commercials

[SoLaR_HaVa]

How come commercials are so long? I don't usually fall for their advertisements, and i dont like them especially when its on TV and im watching something very interesting. like one day, I was watching an amazing movie and it got to the most interesting part and then commercials came on. totally ruined the moment. 

[BlackSheepNY]

Commercials get on my nerves.  What I've found lately is that there are many MORE commercials between breaks in a show or movie.  I remember the day when you paid for cable and got ZERO commercials.  Some of these commercials now are shown TWICE IN A ROW.  If you take notice, the commercials are also LOUDER than the show or movie.  Unless the commercial itself is exceptionally witty or funny, I ignore them as much as possible.  To me, it's like SPAM on my TV screen!

[Shandara09]

I hadn't noticed them getting longer, but yeah, sometimes they do have bad placement in movies.  That's when I'm thankful to have a DVR.

[cuppycakke]

My feeling about them is neutral. Yeah, it is true that if you watch an hour show, commercials basically take 30 minutes of the whole program, but, without them, the companies wouldn't receive any revenue. They wouldn't get money to put into even more episodes and would ultimately, probably have to cancel the show (which should be a pretty obvious, well known fact from the start of this conversation). Think of the good side about them. It can give you a chance to take a break and do what you need to do before the show comes back on (get a snake, use the restroom, have a small chat with someone and talk about your opinions of the events that just occurred in the show). It also raises suspense and keeps you on the edge of your seat when a commercial hits. Yeah, it can be a "You've got to be KIDDING me! It was on such a good part!" moment, but it allows you to build ideas in your head; infer about what is about to happen next, which, to some people, can be a good thing. This is turning into a lecture, so I'm going to cut it short. Don't take this in a mean way, but, unless you want to take money from your own pocket and pay for the show, in order for it to have no commercials, stop your whining (whining doesn't help, and gets you absolutely nowhere...), suck it up, and learn to live with them. Hope you have a nice day.

[potluck6]

when ads come on I usually click to channel 99 with Comcast it is a dead channel. or when I want quiet I put it on. surprised at how many commercials are on like 3-4 minutes so annoying.

[jcalexis]

I believe these channels are commercial channels. Advertisers pay big bucks to have their products viewed in tv.

[Oryon20]

As annoying as commercials may be, the reality is, programming is made in order for advertisers to pay for commercial time.  This is why shows get canceled.  Low ratings equals low demand to buy the advertising time during that show and/or at very low ad rates. 

The Super Bowl can charge millions of dollars for ad time.  Why?  It's the highest rated, most watched programming every year (and sometimes ever), and advertisers line up to dish out the millions every year.

For low rated shows?  Advertisers run away from them, or the ones who don't (say there's a program which rates high in some demographic, like in woman 18-24, and a company's target demo is that range) end up paying very low rates.

Here's a good example.  Whitney was a low rated show on NBC all of last season, which ultimately got canceled this past spring.  NBC was only able to get about $47,000 per 30 second spot (compare that to CBS getting $275,000+ for a 30 second spot for The Big Bang Theory).  If there are about 6 minutes worth of commercials for a 30 minute show (a 30 minute show is around 22 minutes long without commercials, and about 2 minutes worth are local commercials or network promos), NBC was only getting about $564,000 worth of advertising money each time the show aired.  The show probably cost more to make than what was coming in for advertising per episode, not even including the costs of promotion of the show.  Then compare that amount to TBBT on CBS which is $3.3 million for the same 6 minutes.  You can then see why a network axes a show.

Commercials are never going away.  If you don't want them, your only recourse is buying premium content like HBO, Showtime, etc. (where you essentially are funding their original programming with your subscription), getting a DVR and watching it after it airs to fast forward the commercials, or subscribing to a service like Netflix, Hulu+, or Amazon Prime and stream programming without commercials.

[nickylanena]

I know! It's sooo annoying!

[twelton]

I don't watch much television so I don't know if the commercials are getting longer or not but I would say that more than likely it's to pay for the programming.

[kqa]

That's why I enjoy using the DVR. There is something I noticed years ago and it holds true today. Anytime I turn the TV on, it seems that a commercial is on without fail.

[angprescott]

I also dislike commercials, but I know that they are getting longer because the shows are selling more time. it is all about corporate America earning a dollar. Instead of giving us a show that is a full half hour or what ever the time is of the movie you are watching.

[dkanofsky]

I record the programs I enjoy watching and then I just fast forward through all the commercials.

[Forp]

I find a great many of the ads far more entertaining than the shows themselves...I even watch those annual best commercial programs...just in case I missed a really effective /powerful one 

[gbabesmom]

Some commercials are very funny, but others are downright annoying. I use the mute button regularly. When I had a dvr I enjoyed watching shows because I could fast forward the commercials.

[sharonpatri55]

Not only have commercials gotten longer, the stations pack more into the commercial breaks between tv segments. Some stations also make the volume louder during the commercials; has anyone else noticed this?